FEDERAL BARGAINING POWER: Even as union membership dwindles across the country, unions for public employees are still growing — and for the most part, so is their lobbying power.

The Washington Post reports that more federal employees are joining to have input on their working conditions and “to participate in solving agency problems.”

As of May 2012, 1.2 million federal employees belonged to a bargaining unit — almost 98,000 more members than in 2002. Union membership overall is at its lowest level since the 1980s, however, when it stood at 20 percent of the workforce — now it’s 11 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The American Federation of Government Employees‘ membership jumped the most. It has 85,521 new members (a 43 percent increase to 282,535 in 2012), which is partly because AFGE began representing Transportation Security Administration employees last year. AFGE, an AFL-CIO affiliate, also increased its lobbying budget to $1.49 million last year, an increase of $190,000 over 2011 — the biggest jump for federal unions in 2012. According to its fourth-quarter report, AFGE mostly lobbied budget and appropriations issues — to secure funding for Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for example.

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, also an AFL-CIO affiliate, is still the biggest lobbying spender, having spent $2.68 million in 2012, even if it cut back by $220,000. According to its fourth-quarter report, AFSCME lobbied on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, as well as job creation bills, Hurricane Sandy relief and the fiscal cliff negotiations.

And in the case of National Treasury Employees Union, which has 83,000 members, membership has increased even though employment within its agencies has declined. The NTEU represents workers in such agencies as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Treasury Departmental Offices, and Customs and Border Protection. NTEU’s lobbying budget grew $12,500 to $740,531 in 2012.

The only federal unions that haven’t seen a membership increase are postal unions, mostly as a result of USPS layoffs. BLS data show membership in postal labor unions is down to 458,000 in 2012 from 632,000 in 2000.

The Ready for Hillary PAC is chaired by Allida Black, a history and international affairs professor at George Washington University and the director and editor of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers project.

This is Black’s second pro-Hillary PAC. She also launched WomenCount PAC for the 2008 Democratic Primaries and, as a Virginia delegate, Black pushed for Clinton’s nomination at the convention. At the time, she told reporters that she used retirement savings to follow Clinton to 14 states on the primary trail, according to the Washington Post.

Black maxed out her personal contributions for Clinton’s last presidential bid. She also donated another $500 to her own WomenCount PAC, which gave $5,000 to Clinton’s leadership PAC, HILLPAC, in 2008, according to OpenSecrets.org data. WomenCount also supported various female Democrats running for the House and Senate in the 2008 and 2010 cycles.

In general, Black seems to be a strong advocate for female Democrats, donating $3,650 to New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand from 2007-11 and $500 to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California in 2010. She did give Obama’s re-election campaign $250 in September 2012 and helped elect freshmen Democrat Reps. Kyrsten Sinema and Tammy Duckworth in the last election cycle. She donated $250 to Duckworth and another $2,000 to Sinema, both directly to her campaign and through the Off the Sidelines PAC.

SAMSUNG GOES TO WASHINGTON: Last week, we reported on Samsung’s record-breaking lobbying spending in 2012 amid its copyright and patent disputes with Apple. We can expect that lobbying growth to continue in 2013 with Samsung‘s announcement that it will soon be opening a new lobbying office in Washington, D.C.

An unnamed Samsung executive told the Korea Timesthe physical proximity to Capitol Hill will make it easier for Samsung to ramp up its lobbying efforts and protect its share of the smart-phone market with lawmakers’ support.

Since our last update on Samsung’s lobbying, one of its subsidiaries, Samsung Information Systems, reported another $30,000 for the fourth quarter. That brings Samsung’s lobbying total for 2012 to $900,000. That might not be enough for Samsung, though, when Apple spent more than $1 million more last year.

Samsung is collaborating with the government on federally funded projects and is also expanding its research and development efforts in Silicon Valley. Its new head of innovation reportedly uses Apple products at home, though.

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